Devices are used to alert a user during a potential medical emergency. The user may be a person with diabetes (user), and the alert is a diabetes-related alert. For example, the user's device may alert the user that the user's blood sugar is below a threshold (e.g., the user is hypoglycemic) or above a threshold (e.g., the user is hyperglycemic).
The alert volume at which these devices deliver alerts may be at a suboptimal level given the environment of the user. The alert volume may be too soft given the environment. For example, the user may be in a relatively loud environment (e.g., a sporting event) where the user may not hear an alert that would otherwise be audible. Alternatively, the alert volume may be too loud given the environment. For example, the user may be in an environment where loud noise is discouraged (e.g., a movie theater, church, library, or another location at which loud noises are discouraged). The user may decrease the volume of the alert or disable the alert entirely, which may lead to the user missing further alerts.
A user may fail to receive or react to these alerts, for example because the alert volume is too low to be heard, the user is away from the mobile device, or the user is asleep. The user's failure to receive or react to an alert may lead to negative consequences for the user. For example, the user may become hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic. The user's unresponsiveness to a given alert also causes unnecessary processing of alerts at the user's device, which results in unnecessary depletion of battery power for battery-powered devices and may eventually result in total battery depletion, which leads to an inability of the device to alert the user of further events.
The user's blood glucose level is monitored by a blood glucose monitor (BGM) or a continuous glucose meter (CGM) that is implanted into or otherwise physically connected to the user. Defects may arise in these glucose monitoring devices. For example, the sensor may be out of calibration, too hot or too cold, or otherwise unable to perform its functions. When alerts from the user's devices are poorly communicated, the user fails to receive alerts indicating the defects with the glucose monitoring devices, which may cause the user to be unaware of alerts and subsequently become hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic.